Bentonville sales office gives back to local children’s shelter

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April 30, 2017

Bentonville, Ark.

Hormel Foods employees at the Bentonville (Ark.) sales office recently completed a service project benefiting the Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter in Bentonville.

The employees partnered with the Educational Disc Golf Experience (EDGE) to provide a permanent nine-hole disc golf course at the shelter. Each hole is branded with one of the company’s brands, including the SKIPPY^® brand, Wholly Guacamole^® brand and the Hormel^® Black Label^® bacon brand.

The sales team recently celebrated the official grand opening ceremony, unveiling the course. The team was joined by the members of the EDGE team, including Jay and Des Reading, world champion disc golf players, who taught everyone how to properly play the sport.

“It was a fantastic afternoon spent with 40 amazing children and a couple of really cool disc golf professionals. This course will not only leave a lasting impression for our brands, but hopefully will inspire a few children to grow up to be consumers of Hormel Foods products!” said Cassie Moore, customer business manager, Bentonville sales office. “The course provides a permanent fun activity that allows the Hormel Foods team to interact with the children during our quarterly visits at the shelter. Children at the shelter were so blown away by the generosity of Hormel Foods that they each took time to write a thank you note.”

The team in Bentonville began volunteering at the Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter three years ago when they were looking for a charitable organization to give to financially and also to spend time volunteering with. The shelter only receives 25 percent of their funding from grants and state programs, the other 75 percent comes from organizations such as Hormel Foods.

“It’s an honor to work closely with the shelter both financially and with our time,” Moore said. “Our association with the shelter has given our team employees the opportunity to grow personally and serve our community.”

Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter provides 24-hour emergency care for children who have been abandoned, abused or neglected. Their mission is to provide a safe haven, high-quality care and hope for the future to children who have been neglected. Children may live at the shelter for up to 45 days in a six month period. Northwest Arkansas Children’s shelter cares for about 500 children per year and have cared for more than 7,000 children since they opened in 1993.